Less than 12 hours before, he’d bounded onto a stage in front of a packed audience, high-fiving members of his party’s youth wing who shouted “Lisée! Lisée! Lisée!” with his campaign music blaring.

“We’re acting as though we want to give people money, but secretly we want to save the planet,” he said to applause some minutes later, as he discussed his plan to subside carpooling and take cars off the road.

And recent numbers have even suggested that third-place standing is being challenged by the surging left-wing Québec Solidaire — a fact Lisée is keenly aware of.

After drawing praise for his performances in the first two leaders’ debates — including one in English — Lisée raised eyebrows during the final showdown with an off-topic attack against Quebec Solidaire’s leadership style.

During an exchange that was supposed to be about health care, Lisée instead questioned Quebec Solidaire’s Manon Massé about who ” pulls the strings” in her party, which has two co-spokespeople but no official leader.

In the days that followed, Lisée doubled down on his attacks, accusing Quebec Solidaire of being a “Marxist” party that wants to nationalize all industries in the province.

He also took aim at the party’s proposal to replace the tax-free savings account system with a new program that would direct a portion of the investments toward providing loans for energy-efficient renovations.

Instead, he’s banked on a generally left-of-centre platform that includes electrifying the public transit network, eventual free schooling, stronger language laws, and leveraging the threat of an eventual referendum to force Ottawa to fork over billions of dollars he says Quebec is owed.